Last



April 14, 1925. 1,533,815

' c.v M. sEARL.

v'ozxigfnzu Filed April 21,1924

IN V EN TOR. ea/

ATTORNEYS.

Patented Apr. 14, 1925.

` UNITED s'rATss isasis PATENT OFFICE.

' CLINTON M. SEARL, OFl POR'I'MOUT'H, OHIO, ASSIGNOR T0 THE VULGAN LAST COM- PANY, OF PORTSMOUTI-I, OI'IIO, A. CORPORATION OF OHIO.

1 LAST.

Original application filed April 21, 1924, Seriall No. 707,796. Divided and this application filed November 24, 1924.. serial No. 751,786.`

To all whom 'it maz/ (fo'nccrn:

` Beit known that I, CLIN'roN M. SnARL,a citizen of the United States, residing at Portsmouth, in the county of Scioto and State o-f Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lasts, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the acoomp'anying dra-Wing.

My Vinvention relates to an improvement `in lasts, and is parft-icularly directed to' lasts of the divided type-that is to say, to that type of last which is divided into two parts, a toe part and. a heel part,` movable relatively to each other to collapsed and extended positions. The present application is a division of my application filed April 21, 1924, Serial No. 707, 796.

It is desirable in lasts of this type that the last be capable of being easily collapsed so that it may be removed from a shoe without injury to the lining of the shoe and without stretching the shoe out of place.

In lasting a shoe the last is held upside down-that is, with the sole side uppermost --and inasmuch as a great deal of pressure is put on the toe of the last during the lasting operation, this tends to'collapse the last, and consequently one o-f the objects of my invention is the provision of a construction in which the last is capable of withstanding the strcsses to which it is subjected during the lasting` operation without c'ollapsing, but nia-y bc readily collapsed by the operator when 'desired i In one form of last now in extensive use, the fore part and heel part are attached to each other by a link attached toV the fore part and heeltpart by pins 'so' located relatively that a line drawn through their centcrs will fall above the axis on which the last parts move when the last is collapsed and below this point or axis when the last is extended.

In such a construction, the greater the dislancc the pins are below thejaxis of the last when the last is extended, or the greater the distance they are above the axis of the last when the last is collapsed, the more resistance the last will offer to collapse or extension, but this distance is limited nasmuch as the pins must be located in the last body itself, and in the case of wooden lasts the pins must be kept at an apprecia-ble distance from the bot-tom or sole face owing to the d'angerl of splitting the last when the same is in use or when bcing moved from extended position to c'ollapsed position or vice versa. j

In the present construction I have pro'- vided an arrangelnent for attaching the two last parts to each other whereby an effect is obtained which is as efiicient as the lowering of the pins in the ab'ove-outlined construction to the danger' point, the resistance to collapse or extension oifered by my last being very materially increased, Without, however, necessitating pl'acing of any pins at a point where they are likely to cause the last to split.

It is one of the especial objects of my invention to provide a last in which the last parts are held together under tension and not simply h`eld in expanded or collapsed position under tension.

i It is a. further object of my inventionto hold the lastparts Vtogether by means einploying a lever, with the parts constantly under tension.

It is a still further object of my invention to hold the parts of the last togethelI under tension with the parts so ai'ranged that the tension will assume its maximui'n when the a parts are either' in their fully expanded or fully c-ollapsed position. j

It is an additional object of my invention to provide the holding together of the parts under tension 'and to associate therewith a lever, the parts being so arranged that the tension will achi'eve its maximum at the completely expanded` or colla-psed position of the last parts- It Vwill be realized that the tension may be created by a variety of means which maly be very compressible or expandible, and ;that the details of creating this condition are not ossential.

It is a further object of my invention to provide such mechanism to hold the parts of the last together' under tension that it will not be necessary to have resilient links or resilient anchor pins. Such means are eliminated and the same results are obtained.

It is a further object of my invention to provide the holding of such parts together under tension and the increasing of this tension at extreme positions together with means to lock the par-ts in extended positon by such tension means to resist the base of the lever pressure, tending to collapse the last iniposed on the bottoin of the toe member in constructing the shoe -thereon unt-il such tension means is overcome by the operator breaking the last.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown a sectional view illustrating myV invention.

In the drawing I provide a heel portion 1 and a toe portion 2, these twoportions being divided along the a-rcuate cut 3, the centel' of ,which is at 11. Pivoted to the heel part 1 by a pin is a lever 6 and pivoted to the toe part 2 is a similar lever 7, this lever being' pivoted to the toe part by the pin 8. These two levers are substantially vtriangularly shaped and the pin 5 abo-ve referred to passes through the lower extremity of the base of the lever 6 while the pin 8 passes through the lower extremity of the 7 Extending through the apeX of the lever 6 and the apex of the lever 7 and pivotally a-ttached thereto by pins 9 and 10 respectively, is .a link 11. This i; link is provided intermediate itsends with a. pin 12 which extends transversely of the link and passes through a slot 13'in a pin 14; which eXtends substantially vertically of the last. Attached to the upper end of the pin 14 is -a plate 15 and attached to the ends of this plate are two links 16 and 17, the link 16 being` attached to `the upper extremity of the base of the lever 6 while the link 17 is attached to the upper extremity of the base of the lever 7.

Mounted on the pin 1% and interposed between the plate 15 and the upper edge of the link 1,1 is a coil spring 18 always under' compression.

71th the parts in the full-line position shown in the drawings, the spring 18 is acting in a. direction to swing the levers 6 and 7 about their respective pivots 5 and 8, but inasmuch as these two levers are tie-d together by the link 11 Athe result of this action of the spring is to tend to shorten the distance 'between the p'ins 5 and 8 to thereby hold the last parts lin collapsed position under tension, the centers of the pins 5 and 8 lying below the center or axis. 11 of the last.

VVhen the last parts are moved to the vdotted-line position of the drawing, the

spring 18 is exerting a pressure in a direction to tend to shorten the distance between the pins 5 and 8. A line passing through the centers of these pins at this time, however, falls above the axis 4: of the last, with the result that the last parts will be held in collapsed position under tension.

It will be apparent that' I have provided a last structure wherein the last parts are held inextended position and in collapsed position under tension, thereby providing a structure which will successfully withstand accidental collapse or extension of the last parts when the same are in use in the manufacture of shoes. It will be seen also that in my inventio'n I provide a structure in which the force exerted on the last parts to hold thelasty in extended and in collapsed position is of some lnagnitude, my improved construction being' such, however, that this increase in force is provided without weakening the last. In other words, more power is available for holding thelast parts in adjusted position due to my improved structure than is possible in lasts as now manufactured. V

It will be seen also that I have provided a last structure wlicrein'the last parts are held in extended position and inicollapsed position under greatest tension. In other words, the vtension under which the last part-s are held to each other when the last is extended or when the last is' collapsed, as the case may be, is greater than the tension under which the last parts are held when in an intermediate position.

ILIaving` thus fully described my invention, what 'I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is'- In a last of the divided type, the combination of a. heel part and a toe part, a lever CLINTON M. SEARL. 

